The First Year

Bordering On Attainable

Harry perched on the edge of the table in the examination room in Leighton's office. He shivered a little, staring at a chart of the human skeletal system. He'd already been waiting for twenty minutes and the delay was starting to grate on his nerves. He noticed he'd been somewhat more irritable than usual since the explosion. He initially thought it was due to his enforced inactivity immediately after he'd been discharged from the hospital, but as he was able to do more, Harry found small things still disproportionately annoyed him. Like not being able to find the instructions to repair the gearbox of the motorbike in the manual right away. Or dropping a spanner on his toes. Harry had been so irate at that, he'd chucked the spanner across the shed and then had to spend nearly an hour poking around the rubbish in the shed looking for it. 'Why does it have to be so damn cold in here?' he grumbled, pulling his hands inside his jumper.

'I ask myself that every day,' Leighton said, as he walked through the door, after perfunctorily knocking. He spread Harry's chart on a counter and began firing questions toward his patient. 'Any dizziness?'

'Some. Especially if I'm tired.'

'Blurred vision?'

'With or without the glasses?' Harry shot back.

'With,' Leighton said dryly.

'No.'

'Fatigue?'

'No.'

'Nausea?'

'No...'

'Impaired physical coordination?'

'Sometimes.'

'How often?'

Harry sighed gustily. 'The last time was... three? No, four days ago.'

'And how long was it after the last time you had difficulty walking?'

'Couple of days...'

'Any difficult concentrating or amnesia?

'It's a little hard to focus on something for an extended period of time...' Harry said, beginning to worry.

'Define "extended period of time".' Leighton cocked en eyebrow at Harry, long familiar with the way Aurors tended to hold an exaggerated view of things.

'More than a couple of hours,' Harry said with a shrug.

'Increased irritability or aggression?'

Harry's lips thinned. 'Yes,' he said, clenching his teeth.

Leighton merely nodded and continued to make a few notes in Harry's chart. 'Very good,' he murmured, lighting his wand and shining the light briefly into each of Harry's eyes, making approving noises.

'Is this going to keep me from working?' Harry asked anxiously.

'Not in the long term, no. Unless you intend for this to be a regular occurrence,' Leighton said.

'No.'

'Concussion takes a bit of time to heal completely. You're doing well, all things considered. I won't clear you to go back to work or testify at the trials until then.'

'And how much longer will that be?' Harry asked nervously.

'Depends. Could be a couple more weeks. Could be another month. Just takes time.' Leighton set the quill down and gazed at Harry. 'Well, since you're not experiencing blurred vision, what do you say to tossing those things into the dustbin?' he suggested, indicating the large glasses on Harry's face.

'I'd love to.' Harry slid off the table and followed Leighton to a doorway that opened into a dim staircase. 'Could I get two pairs? Have a spare?'